Harvest Moon
by Destiny's Call
Summary: "'Sora, please listen.' The pre-dawn light highlighted the look of innocence upon her face. 'You being here…we've all ready put you in enough danger.' I tried to protest. 'But-' Her cerulean eyes firmed. 'Leave.' She said. 'And don't come back.'"
1. The Scarecrow

Why the band directors had the party thrown at the old cornfield, I'm still not sure. It was kind of a depressing place, about ten acres big, with a field of cornstalks choked and killed by weeds, the entire field covered in plants other than corn, and dead, withered fruiting plants. But that will never compare in creepiness to the scarecrows.

There were fifteen scarecrows arranged in three rows of five evenly spaced around the cornfield. Each was dressed in shirts with the chest and torso being yellow plaid, the right sleeve green, and the left sleeve pink. The shirts were identical except for the obviously clumsy stitching; signifying that each was sewn in a hurry. Some of the excess straw stuck out of their sleeves.

Their pants were bright blue, with a patch of pink fabric akin to the left sleeve on their right leg and a patch of green like the right sleeve on their left leg. Straw stuck out from the ends of the legs. They all had on black rain boots and yellow straw hats covering their heads and hiding their "faces". Each scarecrow clung to their post, and according to townsfolk, they switched positions every day.

Another legend was about the old warlock, Master Ansem, a crabby old crony that practice witchcraft and brought some kind of demon creature with him to wreak havoc upon the small town of Twilight. According to legends, he lived in a creepy old cabin that, upon the warlock's death because of a few brave townsfolk, was burned to the ground. He, apparently, cursed all who touched his cornfield and enchanted his scarecrows so that they would attack all who neared it.

"Don't be so freaked out, Sora. They're just stories, after all." My friend/enemy Vanitas said.

"I know they're stories, Vanitas. But you gotta admit: this _is_ kind of a creepy place. You can see why the legends started."

"Aw, is wittle Sowa scared?"

"No, Riku, I'm not." I sighed, annoyed at the silver-haired percussionist's appearance.

"I think someone's in denial." Riku's best friend and twin brother, Reiku, said in that farmboy-like accent of his as he arrived on the scene.

"I just wanna get this over with, okay? It's kind of a weird place." And the party began.

* * *

><p>Red, pink, and orange spilled across the land as the party kept going. At three hundred strong, our band, the Pride of Twilight Town, had to find big places to have parties, and this was voted for the start of pre-band party. It was a warm late July evening, and I knew it wouldn't be long until dusk arrived along with the first star of the night. We ran out of soda, so the directors all went to get more. (Hey, we needed a crap-ton of soda to last until the end of the party.) Not too long after they left, the sun had nearly set.<p>

It shouldn't have made a difference at all, but at that moment, I became terrified. I felt eyes on me. And it wasn't that feeling like when ghosts are near, and that junk. I mean a physical being watching me. And I turned around.

Crouching on the ground, eyes locked with mine, were three girls. One was a black, the other, a blonde, and the last, a brunette. Their hair, for whatever reason, was untamed, flying out in random places like wild. Their eyes had the same frenzy look.

They looked kind of like scarecrows, I guess, except gothic, for lack of a better term. They had on black overalls over a slightly transparent dark lavender long-sleeved shirt with golden glittery swirls all over it. The edges of the overalls were decorated with black feathers. Crows' feathers. They had pure black lips like ebony, golden glitter around their eyes, heavily colored with a metallic purple eye shadow and black eyeliner.

As one, their lips peeled back to reveal perfectly white teeth with fangs instead of canines. At first I thought it was a prank.

"Hey." I said. "Whoa, nice costumes. Is that what the colorguard is wearing this year?" They started crawling forward on their hands and feet, looking ready to leap at any moment. "Hello? Guys?"

Then they snarled. It was an inhuman snarl, and it sounded too loud for three people. Then, I turned my head slightly and saw that there were at dozens-no hundreds-more preying upon the band. I gulped, and as they leapt, I let my instincts take over. I _ran_.

The three goth-scarecrows followed me, leaping and running like frogs…no, wolves. Like wolves. I was too busy looking behind me to see if they were still following me, I ran right into one of the scarecrow's posts/stands (I'm still not sure what they were), and fell onto the ground, in pain. And I swore the scarecrow turned its head as I hit the stand.

The goth-scarecrows closed in on me as I grabbed onto the post to help me stand up and steady myself. _What__is__going_on_?_ I screamed in my head, not bothering to put it to words. In the chaos of the goth-scarecrows attacking, the whole band was panicking and everyone was too busy worrying about themselves to help others. At least, most of the band was. A few brave souls, still being chased by the goth-scarecrows, were trying to help, and basically failing.

The three goth-scarecrows were getting closer, closer. I could smell their breath. It reeked of rotting and raw meat. That's when I realized: they were chasing us because they were hungry. There was a reason why the legends said that no human that entered the cornfield at sunset never returned. If the legends were true, which at that moment, I was starting to believe they were, they were going to _eat_ us.

My heart was in my throat, and I heard something. "Closer." It was a voice, though not one I had heard before. _Paranoia__'__s__getting__to__me__now._ I thought, backing as far against the prop as I could.

I heard it again. "Closer." I was looking around for the source of the voice, my heart hammering. The goth-scarecrows were closing in. "Just a little more…" A second passed.

And after that, I heard wood creaking, briefly. A shadow blocked out the light of the almost-vanished sun for milliseconds before I heard another inhuman noise, a shriek.

All the goth-scarecrows turned as a thud resonated in my ears and I noticed one of the three was on the ground. The figure, which had just probably saved my life, was crouched over it. One more shriek, and that goth-scarecrow was gone. All the goth-scarecrows then suddenly shrieked at once and started running in their crouches.

I watched as the figure chased the goth-scarecrows away. "Get out! Git! Git! You're not welcome here!" The person yelled at them. "Or do you want to wind up like your friend?" The goth-scarecrows shrieked at once and disappeared into the earth. The figure seemed to cross their arms. "I didn't think so." The person said in a smart-alecky tone. In the dim light, I couldn't see much except for the fact that it was a person.

The person was fairly close to me, so I called out. "Hey!" The figure turned. I walked closer. "Uh… thanks. You saved my hide."

"No prob. It's my job to pound those things to dust." Now that the person wasn't screaming at the top of their lungs, I could tell that it was either a girl, or a boy that hadn't yet gone through puberty.

"Yeah, but still-" Then the person stepped closer to me, in a patch of light, and I froze. It was a scarecrow. The person was dressed just like them, from the boots to the hat and the poor stitching.

The person-scarecrow- blinked at me. "What?" The scarecrow asked.

"You're… a scarecrow…" I deadpanned.

"And…"

"You… were on that stand…" The scarecrow nodded. "And you… were… why would you wait so long to pull a prank?"

"Prank?" The scarecrow laughed. "You _honestly_ think this is a _prank_? Buddy, I just saved your life, scared the Shadows out of here, and you think this is a _prank_?"

"Shadows?"

"It's a long story. But surely you've heard the legends. I've heard some of them. You should know about us."

"You mean the Scarecrows?" The band was gathering around the two of us, most of them had dropped jaws and bugged-out eyes.

"Yeah."

"You… were brought into sentience…by Master Ansem."

"Yep!" The Scarecrow confirmed cheerfully.

"And she did so… so that everyone that stepped foot on this field would die." Screams then erupted.

"Whoa, whoa!" The Scarecrow said, shaking its head and waving its arms in a very exaggerated manner, as if it didn't have bones. Wait…it didn't. "That's not us! That's the Shadows! We were brought to life to keep people _safe_ from the Shadows!"

"We?" I asked weakly.

"All fifteen of us, duh." The Scarecrow said, motioning around the field to the other twenty-three, still on their posts. "It's been a while since we had guests. We've missed the company. And oh crap! I forgot! I have a job to do!"

"Huh?" Was all that could come out of my mouth.

"I'm Timekeeper! I have to wake up everyone!" The person started grumbling. "Because they're just too lazy to wake up on their own." The Scarecrow then called over her shoulder. "Stay there and wait for me!"

"Okay, uh…"

"Naminé!" She yelled.

I cocked my head as she ran to the other end of the property. "What?" I yelled.

"My name!"

She climbed onto the farthest stand and started shaking its occupant awake. A few seconds later, another Scarecrow started running towards us. When it came into the light, I saw its face. Holy crap. It has a human-looking face.

"So, _you__'__re_the people that crawled onto this field and stayed until dusk?" The Scarecrow scoffed. "Losers." The Scarecrow was a she. She had yellow-blonde hair that was chin length, and as she removed her hat, letting it dangle around her neck, two strands slicked up like antennae became visible. She had turquoise eyes, a seemingly permanent look of scorn, and she towered over everyone. The first thing that went through my head was _Holy__crap.__Scarecrows__have_ genders_?_

Riku, who didn't react well to taunting, stepped up by my side. "Hey!" He almost shouted. "We're not losers. We're band kids."

She sighed. "Oh, boy. Band kid losers."

"Larxene!" Naminé must work pretty fast, because at that moment, she was on the stand next to hers, shaking that Scarecrow awake. At least, at that moment I hoped that Naminé was a she. Either that or he was a boy with an extremely high-pitched voice and a girlish name. "Can you _please_ not mock our guests?"

Larxene turned to glare daggers at the other female and Naminé just sighed as that Scarecrow stirred. "Did I hear 'guests'?" He asked.

Naminé nodded. "Yeah! We have people visiting!"

"Sweet!" The Scarecrow jumped off of his platform. He had really long black-and-silver hair pulled into a ponytail, one yellow eye, and the other eye covered by an eye patch and had scars over that side of his face. "It's been _ages_ since we've had visitors." He smiled at us as if we were the greatest Christmas present. Looking at the three of them, even Larxene seemed to be happy to see us.

Naminé nodded. "At least twenty years."


	2. The Story

The warm, musky scent of the dying and dead wheat circulated around the entire field. Naminé was finishing up with waking everyone, and as a Scarecrow woke up, they came to visit us. There was Xigbar, that guy with the eye patch, then another guy a year older than Xigbar, with shoulder length azure hair, orange eyes, and an x-shaped scar over his face named Saïx.

After him were two more boys. Both were blond, but the older was about Saïx's age, while the younger was just a bit older than Naminé, I guessed. The elder had cropped hair, light blue eyes, and a goatee. The younger had hair that went to mid-waist, pale, sickly skin, and acid green eyes. They were the brothers: Luxord and Vexen.

Then was Xaldin, a guy about Vexen's age with black hair in dreadlocks and sideburns, and ocean blue eyes. Next came Roxas, a boy about Naminé's age with blond hair swept to the side and ocean blue eyes. Next up was a fairly tall and skinny guy about Xigbar's age with dirty blond hair styled in a cross between a mullet and Mohawk and sea green eyes named Demyx. Then was a giant who towered over everyone and made Larxene's height go to shame. He had short auburn hair and ocean-colored eyes.

Next up was a guy around Vexen's age. He had fairly fair skin, was somewhat tall and lanky, had baby blue eyes, and shoulder length pink hair. I almost died laughing when I saw his hair, and he grumbled about getting "the short stick". His name was Marluxia. Next was an extremely short Scarecrow about Marluxia's age with blue-violet hair with a bang in front of one of his eyes, which were midnight bluish.

Then was Xion. Sweet little Xion. She was a fairly petite thing, skinny and small, with chin length layered hair so black it looked kind of blue and cerulean eyes, and fair skin. She seemed fairly shy and stuck near Roxas. Finally was a redhead with a fiery attitude to match his bright flame-like hair, green eyes, and an upside-down dark violet triangle under each eye. That was Axel.

Reiku looked at all of them. "Y'all it?" Nods. "But they're fourteen of ya, countin' Naminé. Thought ya said ya had fifteen."

"Yes, but we go as a group to see Xemnas wake up." Xion said, practically shaking like a Chihuahua. "C'mon. He can explain everything better than we can."

So we followed the oddly dressed Scarecrows over to the front center post, where Naminé was heading. The Scarecrows all took a seat around it in an arc, and we sat behind them. Naminé climbed up the stand and shook the last Scarecrow awake, who batted her hand away.

"Sir?" She whispered. "Xemnas, we have visitors." The Scarecrow lifted his head.

"Visitors?" He repeated. He looked over at us, and blanched. "Oh, my. More visitors than we're used to." He had shoulder length silver hair, tanned skin, an air of slight arrogance, and orange eyes.

"Xemnas, sir," Naminé said, "I was hoping you could explain our…" She bit her lip, looking for the right word. "Predicament." He sat down on the steps of the stand, Naminé still beside him. Now I had a better view of her. She had shoulder length pale blonde hair parted to the side, creamy skin, and bright cerulean eyes. She sat down dutifully, and waited for Xemnas to start.

"Well, it all started in the…1800s?" He looked at the other Scarecrows and was met with nods, so he continued. "People were just settling down in this town. Among the first was a warlock. Ansem. He came here and settled down to start farming, but a hoard of demonic creatures followed him here. They looked like scarecrows, but were darker-looking, like scarecrows' shadows. So, he called them Shadows. They wreaked havoc on his fields, and Ansem was afraid that they would escape onto the town. So, he bought fifteen scarecrows and built fifteen stands in his fields. He had the outfits already. Then, using the little supplies he had, he made us look human. He pretty much drew lots on who would get what." I looked over at Marluxia. Oh…so, by luck he got pink hair.

"The hair color, length, style, height, age, eye color, gender…everything that makes you human was given to us. Then, he woke us up all at once, and named us. Then, he put us in a room so we could get acquainted.

"We actually got along well for our first time meeting. Everyone else chose me to be the leader since I'm the oldest, and we divided some responsibilities. However, in having life, there was a cost. We can only awaken when the first star shines, and we freeze wherever we are when the first stars fades.

"Ansem got us situated on our posts, and taught us all about the Shadows and how to defeat them. We soon discovered that each of us have magic, just like Ansem. And that's how we spent our life. Keeping Shadows away, messing around, being a family…" The silver-head trailed off and bowed his head.

"…then townsfolk killed him, right?" Riku asked. I bit my lip. It wasn't exactly good timing.

Xemnas, Naminé, and the other Scarecrows looked confused. "So _that__'__s_ what they told everyone." Xigbar said, seemingly to himself.

Naminé looked sad. "It wasn't townsfolk." There were a few curious looks. That went against _every_ legend we'd ever heard. "It was Shadows. There are a few Shadows that can manage to take on a more human appearance and communicate with them. They probably told that lie about Grandpa." _Grandpa?_

Xemnas sat back, letting Naminé speak. "They… a few Shadows managed to slip past our detection and get past the cornfield. As soon as we n-noticed them, we gave chase." She swallowed, looking like she was about to cry. Xemnas looked over to her and gently started to rub her back tenderly, like an older brother comforting his baby sister.

"The remaining Sh-Shadows… they put up a barrier we couldn't break through. We… we were all pressed against it, trying to find a way… a way to get to him." No one could miss the tears beginning to fall out of her eyes. Axel got up quietly and walked over to the blonde. "Grandpa… he was screaming, dying… and all we could do…" She was taking huge, sob-filled gulps. I could see a few Scarecrows wiping away tears too. Xion stood up and walked over to Naminé as well. "Was watch him die."

She suddenly broke out into full-out sobbing, and Axel quickly scooped the petite blonde into his arms. Naminé, in turn, buried her face in the redhead's shoulder, letting out her tears. Xion was rubbing her fellow female's back. Axel was gently whispering, "It's okay, Nami, Big Brother Axel's here." again and again as the three of them sat down at the end of the arc, Naminé still in Axel's lap.

"After that," Xemnas continued, "the Shadows' barrier became more permanent. It will always exist at night, once the first star appears. But when the first star fades, it is gone. They've trapped us here, forever." There was silence for a few moments.

Xemnas clapped his hands together, startling everyone. Vanitas jumped a mile in the air. "Well, now. I guess we can keep you all entertained. Marluxia, Saïx," the two looked over at him. "Would you?"

The duo nodded and stood up and started towards the post Roxas had been on, stopping to rub Naminé's back as they passed her. The other Scarecrows, Xemnas included, knelt beside Naminé, surrounding her with a circle of pure love and comfort. I stood up and followed the blue-head and the pink-head.

Marluxia knelt down; putting a hand on the dirt, and Saïx put a hand on Marluxia's back. Marluxia turned his head to look at Saïx. "Good thing it a harvest moon right now, huh?" The scarred boy nodded, and both closed their eyes. To my amazement and surprise, a pumpkin soon popped out of the soil. Marluxia picked up the pumpkin and handed it to Saïx.

Saïx, without a knife and going faster than I'd ever seen, cut open the pumpkin and started messing with its guts. A few seconds later, Marluxia whipped out hundreds of cups and set them on Roxas's stand. The pink-head then knelt again and seemed to start growing another pumpkin. Saïx thrust a glass into my hand and shooed me off. So, I went to Marluxia.

"Hey, Marluxia?"

"Hmm?" Marluxia looked up at me. "Yes…?" He seemed to be asking my name.

"Sora." I quickly filled in the blank. "Um, about Naminé…"

"Ah. I see." He pulled up a new pumpkin, bigger than the last, and tossed it into Saïx's arms. Marluxia sat down, inviting me to do the same, so I did. He put a hand onto the dirt again, and looked at me. "Naminé…well, first off, she's the youngest. With us, it's one big seriously messed up family. We're all like brothers and sisters. And you know how big brothers are about younger sisters."

I nodded, even though I wasn't completely sure. "And also, her personality. It was just luck that she became who she is, shy to the extreme, quiet, getting easily attached to others, friendly and sweet, cries at the drop of a hat and is laughing and being playful the next moment." He sighed, reminiscing. "It's hard to believe she got all those traits by luck. Maybe Grandpa gave them to her on purpose."

"Grandpa?"

"We've always considered ourselves siblings. Naminé was the first to call Ansem 'Grandpa', saying, 'Well, you're too old to be Dad, so you'll be Grandpa!' It stuck. Most of us alternate between 'Grandpa' and 'Ansem', but Naminé always calls him 'Grandpa.

"She was always closest to him. She spent all the time that she didn't spend with us with him. That's why it was so heartbreaking that night the Shadows ripped out our baby sister's closest relative. She looked up to him. She cried, he was there with a hug and listening ear. Now we all try to be like that, but it's hard. But anything to keep Naminé happy. Anything at all."

He picked up the next pumpkin and threw it at Saïx, who wasn't ready and it slammed into his face, knocking him down. I stifled a laugh. Marluxia blanched. "Uh oh." He turned to me. "Run." He said as the blue-head screamed, "MARLUXIA!" I took his advice and ran back towards my other friends, Riku, Reiku, Vanitas, and one of my best girl friends, Kairi.

They were watching Saïx chase Marluxia. "What happened?" Vanitas asked.

"Marluxia hit him in the face with a pumpkin." I explained. We all laughed until we noticed swirls of black running down Saïx's arm. Suddenly, a giant blue claymore appeared in his hand. We all stared in shock as Marluxia threw up…flower petals? I blinked, all thoughts of his manliness gone. A petal fell into his hand, and suddenly, a scythe appeared in his hand. It was long, with a green handle and the blade was…pink. Boy, he must've gotten teased for that.

* * *

><p>The Scarecrows weren't <em>too<em> bad hosts. They were definitely doing their best with three hundred plus people. Naminé soon after calming down came up to me. We talked a bit, though not much, because five minutes after, she screamed, "EVERYONE ON YOUR POSTS!" The Scarecrows all scrambled to climb onto their stands. Naminé gracefully went up the steps and got into a scarecrow pose.

I followed her. "So…" I said. "See you tomorrow, right?"

Naminé looked down at me sadly. "No…this was our only meeting."

"Why?" I asked.

"Sora, please listen." The pre-dawn light highlighted the look of innocence upon her face. "You being here…we've all ready put you in enough danger."

I tried to protest. "But-"

Her cerulean eyes firmed. "Leave." She said. "And don't come back."

"Naminé…" I pleaded. No response. "Naminé?" I looked at her. She was completely frozen. Eyes glazed over, no breath; it was like she was dead. They were frozen. That meant… I walked to the perimeter of the cornfield and climbed through its barbed wire fencing. Nothing. No blockage. We were free to go.

I looked back at the fifteen Scarecrows we had started to befriend. They weren't free. And it was obvious that until the Shadows were forever destroyed, they would be trapped.

* * *

><p><em>Destiny: Woo hoo! Here goes a new story! (This one's inspiration came from a marching band show I've seen multiple times. Personally, I think it's pretty cool. Anyways, took the basic characters from that show, made a new storyline…voila! <em>Harvest Moon_ was born!  
><em>_Organization + Naminé: So…we're Scarecrows?  
><em>_Destiny: Yep!  
><em>_All other KH Charries (except some FF): And we're band kids.  
><em>_Destiny: Yep! And next chapter, the band directors will be revealed!  
><em>_Yuffie: Woo hoo!  
><em>_Destiny: Yuffie, you're not supposed to show up 'til next chapter.  
><em>_Yuffie: I don't care! And y'all. *Points at readers* Review so me, the Great Ninja Yuffie, will finally be written about!_


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